Happy Thanksgiving!

Thanksgiving day we went to the park and ran around, played some games and got hot chocolate. The kids said it was the best thanksgiving, I guess I didn't need to do a bunch of cooking just take them to the park, I'll have to remember that in the future, although they did love the pumpkin pie and seeing cousins! I'm so grateful for my families! The Saturday after we went with some friends to cut down a Christmas tree. We walked a little too far to find the perfect tree, I guess it was only too far for Hank, Ruby and I, because Jared and Jake helped Dad carry the tree out and walked out of the forest feeling so proud of the tree they picked and that they had helped carry it!

I can't believe she's 1!

It was Ruby's birthday while we were at clown convention so she ate cheesecake at the hotel cafe, then we celebrated at Grandad's later. I can't believe she is one already. If there was a time machine I would go back to when each of my children were born and hold them as infants again. It's hard to remember them as these sweet, quiet teeny babies. Ruby loved everyone singing to her, she even tried to join in on one of the many times we sang it. She also loves getting her picture taken. She looks right at the camera with a big cheesy grin. She says mama, dada, no no and gives the sweetest kisses. She's close to walking after doing the army crawl for a while then crawling normal. We all have so much fun with her.

Clown Convention Continuation

I guess it was a little exhausting.
Jared won third place in the balloon tying and Zach took first in paradability!

The Whole Family At Clown Convention

So Zach applied for this family scholarship for clown convention this year and we got it, so it was off to Laughlin Nevada, most expenses paid, for five days. I'll admit I was a little reluctant to let loose and have fun at first but by the second day None of us could help ourselves. We had constant entertainment that didn't involve T.V. or video games. The boys loved it and made friends with a boy Jared's age named Tyler right away. They had a face painting class, Balloon twisting, juggling, Games for kids and they also took them to a movie and bowling. Hank Was beat by the end of the twisting class.


There were about ten kids there.
One of the nights there was a jungle theme party. I've never been to a party like this before. There was a D.J., all kinds of people dancing in crazy costumes and Prince Ali came out on his flying carpet.

Hank turns four!

Hank had been waiting for this day for a while. He now thinks he can do anything because he's four. On his birthday he unbuckled his seat belt and zipped up his zipper and attributed it to being four. He had a WWF cake and got some wrestling guys for his birthday (the originals not the newer guys, I guess there's a difference). He likes to act tuff but he is such a sweet boy. We love him so much!


Halloween was the next week and Hank wore a costume every day that week. Robin, Captain America, a clone trooper, Batman and on Halloween Anakin Skywalker, his favorite. He still has a tiny scar on his cheek where he gave himself a scar just like Anakin, (not my idea, nor a move I'm proud of). Jared was a ninja, He's starting to lose his excitement for dressing up. Jake was a Jedi, his was the only costume I made. After I made it he changed his mind, but I made him wear it anyway. I was excited to dress Ruby up because there are only a few years I get to choose what she'll be. I've had a few people tell me she looks like Cindy Lou Hoo, The cartoon version, so I looked it up and thought that she'd make a great Cindy Lou Hoo for Halloween.

This is how we get them to sit still for family night.
Hank tried for an hour to get Yankee Doodle right.

"Triathamom's" Not such a great shot of me, but my friends are gorgeous. This was so much fun, very hard but very rewarding. It was a 300 yard swim, 12 bike 5 K run. My time was 1 hr. 34 min. My goal is, faster next year!

Utah Sate Fair! Grandad took us to the fair. I think everyone enjoyed feeding Ruby cotton candy more than eating it themselves. Jake dry heaves while walking through the pigs every year. I can't help but laugh a little.

Back to school! School started Aug. 22nd and Jared says he swears the summers keep getting shorter. But Dad decided to throw a big back to school bash and invited everyone. It was really fun. We had a bounce house, dunk tank, snow cones, cotton candy and everyone brought wonderful food. It was crazy. The picture is before the crowds showed up. What a great way to end the summer.

Then it was time to say see you later to grandma and grandpa. They are off on a great adventure and we hope to have them show us around the island of Hawaii soon.

I woke up one saturday morning and told Zach today was the perfect day to go to Lagoon. So we got the kids in the car and didn't tell them where we were going. When we pulled up they were so excited. Jared and Jake's favorite ride was the collosus, they called it the fire dragon. We weren't planning on staying all day but ended up not getting home until 10pm.

Our good friends took us to their property for a couple of days while Zach was out of town for work. We always have so much fun with the Thompsons!

We got lots of carrots this year, the kids liked helping pull them up.

Jared got his Wolf and had lots of fun at scout camp with his buddies.

This is a typical day for Ruby. Hank can't get enough of her.

Jared and Jake got a DS for their B-days, Ruby's enjoying it too. Hank's giving Otis a drink from the drinking fountain. He's a good dog!

Parades. We have a few of these every summer. We went to Wendover for the 4th, I think this is the fifth year we have. This year Hugo was Santa in summer. The kids get excited for the buffets and jumping from bed to bed in the hotel room. Ruby loves to see Winks! She has a permanent grin when he's around. Then it's the children's day parade and then of course the 24th. The last picture is a typical sunday afternoon. Everyone asleep except Jared. I think I sleep more than he does.

More from the summer.

More camping. The boys won't leave her alone. Birthdays, Jared is 9, Jake is 7, crazy. They had to have their favorite cakes that Granny made, Lemon Curd w/ marshmallow cream and Carrot cake. There were lots of bike rides.